THE former Pittodrie youngster took on Stefan Effenberg in a pre-season friendly in 2003 and would love to put in a similar performance when Elgin travel to Ibrox.

Ross O'Donoghue starred against Stefan Effenberg in a pre-season friendly during his Aberdeen days

ROSS O’DONOGHUE was thrust into the spotlight as a teenager when he gave Stefan Effenberg the runaround and forced the German legend to walk off the pitch.

That was almost a decade ago when the midfielder was breaking into the Aberdeen first team – yet just six months later he ended up playing junior.

Now forgotten man O’Donoghue can’t wait for another chance to make the headlines as he prepares for tomorrow’s live TV clash with Rangers.

The chance comes just seven days after a dream date with the Light Blues in the Third Division was cruelly snatched away from him. It was just another blow for the 29-year-old to deal with but he is well used to them after seeing his dreams of the big-time escape from his grasp.

The midfielder said: “I broke into the Dons team as a youngster under Ebbe Skovdahl.

“I played in a friendly against Wolfsburg during a winter break in Portugal when Steve Paterson was boss.

“Effenberg was with Wolfsburg and it was a great experience to come up against him.

“There were a lot of headlines at the time because I kicked him a few times and he wasn’t too happy and stormed off the pitch.

“It was great to see the headlines. I was only a teenager and I’ve still got the newspaper cuttings.

“I had some ups and downs at Pittodrie but it just didn’t happen in the end.

“I’m in my second spell at Elgin now, I had a stint at Dumbarton and before that I played junior with Cumbernauld United, Bellshill and Pollok.

“It was just a route back into the game as I’d fallen out of it completely. That’s why it’s great to be a part of a game like this at Ibrox with the live TV cameras.

“We’ve a lot of talented players so hopefully we can show what we can do. Everyone’s looking forward to it. It’s a massive occasion.

“We were gutted last week’s game was called off because I’ve been at Elgin for nearly six years and have never seen the place full.

“The fact we’re the closest team to Rangers in the league also made it even more interesting but it wasn’t to be so we must now look forward to this game.”